so so so so so All right, well, good morning, everybody. Good to see you. Welcome to Liberty Bible Church. We're glad that you're here today. We always extend a welcome to anybody who's visiting, all those who are tuning in online. We're going to begin by looking to Psalm 19 today to get our hearts and minds aligned with the truth. So if you're able, would you stand with us? Psalm 19, we're going to start off with verses 1 through 4. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utter speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. We're gonna begin by singing the song Across the Lands, and as we do, feel free to just take a moment and say hi to those around you. Sing along with us. You're the Word of God, the Father, from before the world began. Every star and every planet has been fashioned by you. All creation holds together by the power of your voice. The land and seas rejoice You're the author of creation You're the Lord of every man And your cry of love rings out across the land Yet you left the gates of Egypt Came to seek and save the lost And exchange the joy of heaven for the anguish love rings out across the land. With a shout, she rose victorious, wresting victory from the grave, and ascended into heaven, leading captives Now you stand before the Father Interceding for your own Amen. We have a short video to watch here, but feel free to have a seat. Biblical fundamentalism sees that there is only one church. There is only one church, the blood-bought church of Jesus Christ. There is only one gospel. And that, brothers and sisters, is worth defending. That is worth fighting for. That is worth dying for. May we hold tightly to our precious fundamentals. Just like Nehemiah, we hold fast with a sword strapped to our sides, ready to defend the faith. And we need to fight the spiritual battle. The gun and the knife can maim, they can wound, and they can even kill the human body. But heresy and apostate teachers are seeking much more. They're seeking to destroy the eternal soul through lies and deception. You cannot stop apostasy with a gun, brethren. You cannot stop the humanistic agenda of our world with a wrought iron fence on your windows. You cannot prevent deconstructionism through a security system or a concealed weapon license. So how will we fight this tidal wave of wickedness? We have the only hope this world has. We have the only hope. The power of Jesus Christ is the gospel. The gates of hell will not overpower the church because the Lord Jesus Christ has already won our victory. And we need to place our confidence in our God and in his written word. word. This is biblical fundamentalism. And this is how we fight. Brothers and sisters, we don't need to be afraid. This is our time. We have the most powerful message in the world, and our time is short as well. The world needs biblical, faithful churches, biblically faithful pastors. And that is why IFCA exists. We will not bow down. Until Jesus comes, until he comes, we will not bow down. so that when he comes, he finds us faithful. Okay, this is not on your calendar for the world, but this is IFCA Sunday today. And we are an IFCA church, and I wanted to show you that video. Many of you come here throughout the year, and you may not know what affiliation we have as an independent church. We are an independent church. There's no group that holds authority over our church. But we are a member of this organization, IFC International. It started as Independent Fundamental Churches of America back in 1930 in response to the liberal turn that our churches were taking back in the early 20th century. It's progressed over the last 94-ish years and has never changed their doctrinal position. They have stood firm the entire time. That's why we align with this group. They have no authority over us, but we have fellowship with other churches that are like-minded. Our youth are with…that fellowship with youth groups that are like-minded. I currently serve as the president of the international board for at least another year, until 2025, and have found that…them to be a faithful group. of men, churches, mission organizations, colleges, universities that all have the same goals of moving forward together for the gospel of Christ. You heard Richard's passion there. That was our executive director that put that video together. Remember to pray for him, the home office staff, and our organizations as we stand together and advance the gospel. This insert kind of tells you a little bit about the IFCA. You can look them up online and learn more about our fellowship there as well. You can pray for Richard today. He is currently in India visiting some of our churches there. We have had some of our churches in Manipur, three of them have been burnt down. through the persecution that's going on there right now. And he has been ministering to the men there, Mwanzo, one of my friends there, also our missionary, you know, Lankantong Leonzo. Richard's traveling with him and ministering along with him with some of these other people. So you can pray for them. That's happening right as we meet here today. So that's all I wanted to do. I just wanted to present that. You can pray for our movement and learn more about it. Thank you. All right, before I go to prayer time, I just want to read a thank you card from Shannon and Craig and Sawyer and Spencer. It says, Dear Pastor Tom and Liberty Bible Church, thank you for your prayers, cards, love, and support during the passing of my dad. I especially want to thank you, Pastor Tom, for conducting Dad's funeral. You made a difficult day so much less stressful, and my family and I thank you. So continue to keep that family in your prayers as they continue to mourn the loss of a dear, loved father there. Lots to pray about. A lot of things going on with our body of believers here in Eureka and our families and those that we touch. And so I pray that you all will be diligent in prayer as we come before the Lord. So let's pray. Father God, as we have this time together as a church, I pray that you would continue to give us your grace and mercy that would lead us to have joy and peace in our lives. And as we bring our loved ones before you in prayer today, I just pray that you would, again, just allow us to have peace as we go through the trials and tribulations that come to us on this earth. Father, I lift the sharps to you this morning, both Sue and Jerry, as they encounter just difficult times in their health. And I pray that you would give them peace and healing as you can. Father, I pray that you would give us all just a great desire to come alongside that family in this time and encourage them and support them. I think of Larry Garrison, too, who will be having surgery this Thursday, and I pray for, again, peace for Larry as he considers this surgery. I pray that, again, you even now would be preparing those surgeons in his body for this major surgery. And for Margaret Archibald and and Todd Megland as they also have surgeries coming up, Father, I pray for them. And as we, as human beings, Father, we need your peace in these times when stressful things come our way. We thank you, we praise you that we live in a time that we can have surgeries and have bodies that heal under your magnificent design, Father. So we do lift these families to you and others. I do pray for our body of believers here that we would Again, not take for granted our great ability to come before you and have our petitions heard and know that you have a will and an ability to, with a word, Father, or a thought, to bring your plan to fruition. I think of the youth today as they're on a ski trip up in Wisconsin. I pray you keep them all safe and let them enjoy a good time of fellowship under your name, that they would all come closer to you as a result of the teaching and fellowship they have, but Father, too, we do pray that you bring them home safely tonight. And for IFCA, Father, thank you that we have an organization of like-minded churches and that we can encourage one another through this organization. And I pray for your church around the world, Father, that we would all come to know you more and have that desire. And for this specific service that we have today, I pray that for those teaching and for those leading in music and song that our hearts would be fully attentive to who you are. And we give you the praise through your son, amen. ♪ Who else commands all the hosts of heaven ♪ Who else could make every king bow down? Who else can whisper when darkness trembles? Only a holy God What of the beauty demands such praises? What of the splendor outshines the sun? What are the majesty rules with justice? Only a holy God. And come and behold Him, the one and the only. The glory consumes like fire What other power can raise the dead? And what other name remains undefeated? And who else could rescue me from my fate? And who else would offer his only son? And who else invites me to call him father? Sing holy, forever a holy God Come and worship the holy God Come and behold Him, the one and the only Oh Today's scripture reading is in Psalms 32, verses one through seven. Disregard that heading. Again, that is Psalms 32, verses one through seven. And when you find that, will you please stand for the reading of God's word? Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old. Through my groaning all the day long, for day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was turned into drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. For this cause, everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely, in a flood of great waters, they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. May God add a blessing to the reading of this word. Children may be dismissed. Please stay standing for the next song. Amen. Sing along with us. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty. Praise to the Lord the Almighty, the King of creation. Oh my soul, praise Him for He is my health and salvation. Come all who hear, now to His temple draw near. Praise Him in glad adoration. Praise to the Lord above all things, so wondrously reigning. He shelters thee under His wings and so gently sustaining. Hast thou not seen all that is needful has been sent by His gracious sorting? And praise to the Lord who does prosper thy work and defend thee. Surely His goodness and mercy here painfully attend thee. And ponder anew what the Almighty can do. His love He befriended me Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him All that has life and breath come now with praises before Him ♪ And let the amen sound from His people again ♪ ♪ And gladly for e'er we adore Him ♪ ♪ And let the amen sound from His people again ♪ ♪ And gladly for e'er we adore Him ♪ From the ends of the earth From the depths of the sea From the heights of the heaven ♪ From the hearts of the weak ♪ ♪ From the hearts of the weak ♪ ♪ From the shouts of the strong ♪ ♪ From the shouts of the strong ♪ ♪ From the lips of all people ♪ ♪ From the lips of all people ♪ ♪ This song we raise forth ♪ ♪ Throughout the endless ages ♪ ♪ You will be crowned with praises, Lord Most High ♪ Exalted in every nation Sovereign of all creation Lord, most high, be magnified From the ends of the earth From the depths of the sea From the heights of the heavens From the hearts of the weak From the shouts of the strong From the lips of all Exalted in every nation Sovereign of all creation Lord of all time Be magnified Be magnified Be magnified Amen. Please be seated. Thanks everyone. 2023 was a bad tire year for me. Bad tire. Tires that you have put on your cars. and motorcycles. It was a bad year. I had to buy new tires for everything throughout the year. Everything was leaking all year long. Cindy had leaks in her tires. I'd take it up to the dealership, and they'd fix it for $30, and a week later, another tire would be leaking, and we'd take it up and get it fixed. My truck was doing the same thing. My motorcycle needed new tires. And finally, I just got new tires on the car, which were under warranty still, and they were There was something wrong with them. They were wearing too fast. So I was able to get them at a discounted price. I bought new tires for my truck, which were not discounted, and for my motorcycle, which were also not discounted. It was a bad tire year. I'm looking for this year to be a better tire year. And I'm the person that I, you know, on your dash, you can switch, if you have a newer-ish car, you can switch between different things that it reads. I always keep my tire pressure up there. I'm so used to having low tires all the time, I'm just waiting for the next one to go south. I heard one time a preacher describe a believer's sin like a flat tire. It's not just a blowout of a good tire, it's a slow leak that results in bad things happening. Small sins and toying with temptation will likely lead to bigger and more costly sins against the Lord. We have seen this frequently in the lives of famous pastors and ministry leaders throughout the years when they fail either financially or morally or both. What makes the headlines was not the beginning of the problem. So what happens? How do godly, well-intentioned Christians fall into sins that can be so destructive to their lives, their loved ones, their ministries, and worst of all, the testimony of our Lord? It would be good to know this. Because any one of us is susceptible to falling into sins that we never thought possible. Any one of us. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the fact that you have given us the ability to protect ourselves from falling into sins that are so hurtful. And not only that, when we do fail, you've given us the pathway back. to a right relationship with you. Lord, we're grateful for your grace and your mercy, but we're more grateful for what you give us to avoid problems if we would just access our ability through the Spirit to do that. And so we ask you today as we examine Peter and his failures before you that we would recognize the fact that any one of us can betray you in our lives. and that we need to put protections around ourselves to keep that from happening. And so we're grateful for what you've given us, and we'll give you the praise when you accomplish great things through us, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, before we begin this, I wanna make sure that we all recognize what I've already stated, that in our flesh, we are all capable of anything. in our flesh, we're all capable of anything. I wanna show you just a few passages here that we could go spend an hour on every one of these passages, and I'm just going to read them to you. From Ephesians chapter five, beginning in verse 25. Excuse me, Ephesians 4, 25. Therefore laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear." Paul's challenges here to the church aren't because they're perfect. He's challenging them because they have issues. He says in verse 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. In 1 Corinthians chapter five, beginning in verse one, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. and you have become puffed up, and have not mourned instead, so that the one who has done this deed would be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, deliver such a one to Satan, for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. A lot could be said about that passage and I will tonight and next two weeks from next this week, Sunday night, we're gonna cover a great deal of what the Bible has to say about church discipline and how that's to be practiced in the church. In Matthew chapter 18, Matthew chapter 18, this is the famous passage that is always used about church discipline in verses 15 through 17. But I want to back up a few more verses and show you why. This is why church discipline takes place. Beginning in verse 12, this is the parable of the lost sheep. We very rarely connect the parable of the lost sheep to church discipline, but they have to be connected. This is the Lord's teaching, and I think it was intentional that he covered these two back to back. What do you think? If any man has 100 sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountain and go and search for the one that is straying? And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the 99 which have never gone astray. In this way, it is not the will of your father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish." Fascinatingly, he goes right into church discipline. Now, if your brother sins and go and show him his fault between you and him alone, if he listens, you've won your brother. If he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And he refuses to listen to even the church, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector." You know who that man is? That's the lost sheep. That's the lost sheep that has gone astray. If we love that person, we go and we try to recover that person and bring them back. And if they do repent and come back, we all rejoice over that. Now, one more that I want to look at, and that's Galatians 6, verse 1. And Paul says this to the church at Galatia, brothers, even if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each of you looking to yourself that you too will not be tempted. So that gives us a little bit of an idea of how one is restored that has wandered. We bring them back into fellowship with Christ and the church in gentleness, bringing them back gently, restoring them to a place where they can recover and once again walk closely with the Lord. But as we begin today, I just want us to recognize this, that sin is conceivable, it's corrupting, it's contagious, And it is curable. Now you could preach those four C's right there, but it is. And any one of us that thinks we're above that and can't fall into sin, we're leaving or living our lives in a deceitful lie that is going to put us in a place where we can be hurt. So with this knowledge, let's start with how do we get there? What causes this slow leak in a believer's life? Well, number one, believers begin to, and that's not in your outline, but it probably should be, believers begin to follow Jesus at a distance. Believers begin to follow Jesus at a distance. This is that slow leak where you just kind of slowly wander away from where Christ wants you to be. The warning in James chapter four in recovering from sin there, it says, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. As we draw near to God, as we confess our sins, we are brought back into fellowship with Christ. But if we wander from him, we put ourselves in a place where we can be harassed, and tempted and maybe led into sin. And that's exactly what Peter learns here and what he experiences. Let's start here with the fact that Jesus is going to be arrested. And in fact, he is arrested in verse 54. It says, now having arrested him, I want to go back to verse 47, just remind you of what this arrest looked like. While he was speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the 12, was coming ahead of them, and he approached Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? And when those around him saw what was going to happen, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus then said, Stop, no more of this. And he touched his ear, and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against him, have you come out with swords and clubs as against a robber? While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not stretch out your hands against me, but this hour and the authority of darkness are yours, now having arrested him. The situation changes very quickly for Peter. It goes from a quiet evening of reflection and celebration and worship to conflict and uncertainty. And Peter becomes a major player in that, not just for the disciples, but for the whole world, for those 600 plus that had arrested Christ. And they are watching. And so Jesus is arrested. Secondly, he goes on trial. In verse 54, they led him away and brought him to the house of the high priest. Matthew 26 verse 57 tells us that he was led to the house of Caiaphas, who was currently the high priest at that time in that particular year. But before he saw Caiaphas, he was taken to the house of Annas, who was a former high priest, also the father-in-law of Caiaphas and a very well-respected leader in Judaism, still very influential. Now, what we see in the Gospel of Luke, we see two Jewish trials of the three Jewish trials that were held. There were six trials in total for Christ. Only two of the Jewish ones are shown here in the Gospel of Luke. There were three trials before Jewish religious leaders. There were three trials before Roman leaders as well. and they all happened very quickly. This happens within a few hours time before he is condemned and sent out to be crucified. And where is Peter in all this, the one that's whacking off people's ears in the garden? Well, he keeps his distance. Peter keeps his distance. At the end of verse 54, it says, but Peter, Jesus is arrested, but Peter was following at a distance. He still wanted to be loyal. He did, I believe that. But he soon will fail miserably, fulfilling the prophecy of Christ that he gave him back in verse 31 and 32 and 33. Another one of the disciples, though, gets him into the courtyard. From John chapter 18, beginning in verse 15, Simon Peter was following Jesus and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest. But Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in. So the other disciple is not mentioned. We don't know who that was. We know it was someone that was close to the high priest that had access to his courtyard through the girl that was keeping the gate that night. But he was keeping his distance. Now, remember what Peter said back in verse 33. Lord, with you, I am ready to go both to prison and to death. Peter was ready to die. And so he follows along, and I believe he's very well-intentioned by this point in time. But remember that statement. He's ready to go to prison, and he's ready to die. with Christ. That's a pretty dramatic statement to make, having never had to make that choice before. But that's where he's at in his mindset. I believe that we, as Christians, can have the best of intentions when we begin to distance ourselves from the Lord. and we don't even realize that it's happening. It happens so subtly, and the enemy knows us so well. He knows exactly where to tempt us, where to lead us, where to push us to get us to deny Christ. Nobody starts out saying, I'm going to deny Jesus. As a matter of fact, I would be willing to gauge this audience here today and say that well over 50%, if pushed to that place, would say, I am willing to go to prison for Christ, and I'm willing to die for Him. We would say that, just like Peter. But how many of us are close enough that are close enough to Him to actually do that if we were asked? Or how many of us are distancing ourselves by the choices that we make, by the lives that we live, by the belief systems that we let leak into our mind and cause us to doubt? So what are the signs? If this happens so subtly, are there no signs that we can look for to protect ourselves? Well, that's what we're gonna see next. But first of all, just remember this. Those that are gonna deny Christ, it's not gonna happen when you're at the height of your spiritual walk with Him. It's gonna happen after you've slowly leaked air from your walk with Christ. Secondly here. Generally, we begin to forget what Jesus said. Believers forget what Jesus said. I remember when I played basketball at Calvary for a year, and one time, I don't remember who we were playing, I don't remember the situation in the game, I just remember, and I can still picture his face like it was yesterday, the coach calling a timeout and rebuking us in the huddle when he was rebuking us for a previous timeout where we totally ignored everything he said, went out and did the opposite of what he said. And when we came back, nobody did that intentionally, by the way. And he asked a question of us when we came in. He was like, I don't understand. Somebody needs to explain this to me. What happens between here and there that you just forgot everything I said? Can anybody explain that to me? I wonder sometimes if Jesus, the coach, doesn't teach us through his word either here or at home or when we read and we walk out the door and he says, I wonder, What happened between here and there that you forgot everything I said? And totally went another direction. Because I know many of the times when I've done counseling with people, they come in, they're not ignorant to what they're supposed to do or know that somehow in the middle of their lives, they just don't think about it. It's just gone. It's just gone. Just a few hours before, with great compassion, Jesus said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed earnestly for you, that your faith may not fail, and that once you have returned, that you will strengthen your brothers. But Peter said, Lord, with you, I'm ready to go to prison and to die. He's going to forget everything Jesus said in these next three confrontations. Number one, the denial at the door in verse 55. And after they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter was sitting among them. So let me just kind of broad brush all four gospels and how they present the denials of Peter. All four record them just a little bit differently. Three of the four say that there were two denials or appear to say that there were two denials by servant girls and one to a bystander. I don't want you to get too hung up on the differences between the denials. The point here is that Jesus predicted, prophesied to Peter that he would deny him three times, and he did. The difference in the record is the difference the way the authors heard it, the way it was re-communicated. None of them are wrong, they're just a little bit different of how they perceived it and how they wrote them down. And so in verse 56, a servant girl seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him said, this man was with him too. Now over in John chapter 18 and verse 16, this is when Peter went in the door. He was standing at the door outside and another disciple known to the high priest went out, spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in. Then the servant girl who kept the door, said to Peter, are you not also one of this man's disciples? And he said, I am not. He thinks nothing of the denial as he enters the courtyard of the high priest and is questioned on whether or not he is one of his followers, and he says, I am not, with no thought to a couple hours ago. Now, I wanna give him a little bit of grace here because a lot's happened in the last couple of hours. from the time in the upper room to the time in the garden, the prayers, the confrontation, the arrest, the whacking off of the ear, that's a high stress situation. So things are gonna come and go from your mind in those times. And in verse 57, he denied it saying, woman, I do not know him, just an outright lie. How could Peter, one of the 12 disciples, with such a future ahead of him in being the cornerstone of the church, lie so blatantly about whether or not he knew Christ? I don't know. But that really scares me. If Peter can do that, what am I capable of? Denial number two by the fire in verse 58, and a little later another saw him and said, you are one of them too. But Peter said, man, I am not. Again, in John 18, there's a section here where John records the fact that there were slaves and officers standing there. They made a charcoal fire. It was cold. They were warming themselves. Peter was with them, warming himself. The high priest questions Christ. goes on and there's some other questions of Christ there from Annas and Caiaphas. And finally down in verse 25, now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself and they said to him, you are not also one of his disciples, are you? And he denied it and said, I am not. I am not. Man, I am not. Peter hangs around watching these questions of Christ and paying attention to what would happen. He's become very well-known in the ministry of Christ and recognizable after what happened in the garden, and he just flat-out denies it again a second time. And denial number three then in verse 59, to the family. And after about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, certainly this man was with him too, for he is a Galilean. And then back in John chapter 18, verse 26, one of the slaves of the high priest being a relative of one whose ear Peter cut off, that would have been Malchus. So a relative of Malchus asked this question, did I not see you in the garden with him? And so that's the man in verse 59. Certainly this man was with him too, for he is a Galilean." But Peter said, man, I do not know what you are talking about. His denial here becomes much more vehement. Perhaps he sensed danger with the increasing inquiries. which fulfilled exactly what the Lord said would happen in his prophecy. I want to read how vehement he gets, though, from Mark chapter 14. Luke soft-pedals it a little bit. Mark 14 gives us a little bit more information, as do the other Gospels, in verse 70. But again, he was denying it. And after a little while, the bystanders were again saying to Peter, surely you are one of them, for you are also a Galilean. But he began to curse and swear. I do not know this man that you are talking about." He cursed and swore. I'm just like the rest of you. I don't know this guy. I have nothing to do with this guy. And then at the end of verse 60, the rooster crowed immediately while he was still speaking. A rooster crowed. That's so ironic. I think it's ironic. Now, I've never heard anybody else say this, and I might be way off base, but I think it's ironic that God chose to expose Peter's denials of Christ with a rooster. Roosters are known to be very proud birds, and if a bird can be arrogant, that's a rooster. When we talk about somebody being cocky, it's because they're like a rooster. They strut around like they are really something special. They got the world together and it's in their fists and nobody can take it away from them. Wasn't that a little bit what Peter was like? Before, he was just sure that he would not deny Christ. He was crowing, if I can use that word, with so much confidence that he was ready to die with Him. And yet he denied Him three times. You know what Peter discovered? He discovered that there's something that always comes right before a fall. What is that? It's pride. From Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 18, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. As believers, as the distance between us and Jesus grows, we may still feel very confident without him. I mean, we're going to church, we're doing ministry, we're involved with other Christians. We've kind of forgotten His Word. We've kind of pushed ourselves away from that, but we know enough about what it means to be a Christian that we can still kind of just go through the motions in the flesh. You know what I'm talking about. Just kind of execute. my life, check the boxes of my Christianity, because I know this is what I'm supposed to do, but in reality, what's happening is we're becoming more and more distant from Him, and more and more arrogant thinking, I don't need Him. I can do this by myself. I don't need God. I know what I want, I know what I need. And the whole time, As we live the Christian life, we are denying Jesus in the way that we're doing it. Has anybody else ever found themselves in that place or is it just me? Am I just the biggest pagan in the room? I don't know. But I watch it happen in people's lives. It happens very subtly. Believers who follow Jesus at a distance will generally forget what Jesus said. Finally, if they are genuinely born again, believers will feel shame when they remember Jesus. They will feel shame when they remember Jesus. Because of our enemy, shame has fallen on hard times. We don't like to talk about shame anymore. It's a bad thing. I'm gonna read a quote from Brené Brown. Brené Brown is a liberal writer, philosopher. Her religious background is Episcopalian, which is not what I would consider a Christian religion. They don't teach the gospel as the Bible does. This is what she said about shame. Shame is the warm feeling that washes over us, making us feel small, flawed, and never good enough. So it's a warm feeling. I found another quote by Brene Brown. She said this, shame is the intensely painful feeling that we are unworthy of love and belonging. So what is it? Is it a warm feeling that washes over us? Or is it an intensely painful feeling that we receive? I've got another quote. about shame. Shame is a gift of God that he uses to mold us into the image of Christ and make us useful to him. You know who said that? Me, I just said it for you. I just said it for you. And you can quote me on that. Verse 31, Jesus very compassionately told Peter what was going to happen. But he also said, I'm praying for you that God's gonna use you in spite of your failure. He's still gonna use you, Peter. God was gonna use Peter's failure to make him useful to the church and even still to us today because we can find great encouragement from Peter's failure here. The fact that he could fail so grossly and then recover and be so useful for Christ. It's amazing. That gives us such hope that we're never beyond the usefulness of God in our failures. Verse 61, there's two stages to repentance here that I think are really important that we can connect with and realize the importance of them in our lives and how God uses them for us. is conviction in verse 61. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So, I find it interesting that Peter gives less detail than the other gospel writers about this thing, but he gives more detail in how Peter was reminded of the Lord's words than any of the other gospel writers. None of them mention this here, that Jesus looked at him. So when this trial's taking place, evidently there are people that can hear it and watch it and see it, and Peter probably is in eye gaze with the Lord and hearing him answer questions or not answer questions, whichever the case. And when Jesus hears the rooster crow, he looks at Peter, and Peter catches his gaze. And what comes back? Everything. Everything comes back. Peter remembered the word of the Lord and how he had told him, before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. When God brings conviction, he uses his word. Peter is reminded of what Jesus had said to him earlier in the night, and it breaks him. It breaks him. Now, I'll tell you, we don't have Jesus to look us straight in the eye. We don't have that. Peter needed that, though, because he did not yet have the indwelling Holy Spirit. And if you have the indwelling Holy Spirit, And you do, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, if you've put your faith in Him for salvation, you have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Even if you have chosen a sinful path for a time, you have the Holy Spirit. And that's how Jesus looks us in the eye. He does it through our heart, through the Holy Spirit. He looks us right in the eye and can bring conviction. We are reminded by the Holy Spirit of what sin is and our part in that. We remember what we read in the scriptures or what we heard preached or what we heard from a friend who had the courage to confront us in our sin. Or maybe we were part of the church discipline process because we all have that responsibility to one another. But Satan has spun conviction and shame to the place so that even believers have come to accept the lie that we're being judgmental if we confront a brother's sin, or if a church wants to confront a member that is currently making sinful choices, or that we are shaming someone by pointing at their sin. These are lies. These are lies of the enemy that are intended to destroy the lives of people and the purity of churches. And it's happening today. There's very few churches that practice biblical church discipline. And fewer Christians that want to go reach the one that's wandering. They want to just let them wander and say, well, that's your truth out there, so I'm going to praise God with you. as you wander from the truth of the scriptures. Conviction, if the Lord gives you conviction, and we talk about this when we celebrate the Lord's Supper every month, if the Lord brings conviction to your mind, then deal with that. Deal with that, do not let it go, because we can become calloused. I'll talk about that in just a second. I need to wrap this up here. The second thing is shame in verse 62. When Peter was convicted, he went out and cried bitterly. That's shame. The Lord, he put shame on Peter, shame on him for putting shame on Peter. That's what the world would say. I say, praise God that he puts shame on you for your sin. That becomes a protective coating from doing again. That's what shame does. Mark tells us that Peter threw himself on the ground, not throwing a temper fit, but just weeping in despair for how he had denied Christ. Shame hurts. It hurts. But it's a good pain. It means that we're on a pathway back to where God wants us to be. It means he still loves us enough to cause enough discomfort to protect us from repeating our folly again. Eventually, shame can be put behind us as we are gently restored, but it should never be forgotten, for it is a tool that God uses to make us like Christ. When someone falls into sin, we remember the words of Paul in Galatians chapter six, that we restore them in a spirit of gentleness, lest we cause more temptation for them or even for ourselves. What temptation would we cause for ourselves when we're trying to restore someone? Well, we could be tempted to be prideful. I thank God that I'm not like these evil sinners over here. And then what's happened to us? We've just fallen into a whole nother sin. as we're trying to restore someone else. That's why it's done gently with understanding and care, knowing that any one of us could be susceptible. Believers who follow Jesus at a distance will forget what Jesus said and will then feel shame when they remember and are convicted. Although we will never be perfect in our battle with the flesh, we can still try to avoid falling into sin as much as we can. So how can we avoid what happened to Peter? Well, number one, pay attention to leaky tires. Put that little gauge up there in your life where you see what pressure your tires have, and if it starts to leak, you want to be sensitive to that. If God is convicting you about something small, deal with it now. Because if you don't deal with it now, it can grow and become worse. And we can become like the world and can become callous to that sin. From Ephesians chapter four in verse 17, therefore this I say and testify in the Lord that you walk no longer as the Gentiles walk. You see, there's a temptation for us that are Gentiles to walk the way we used to walk. in the futility of our minds, being darkened in their minds, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." We can grow callous to sin. God will convict us for a time, and we'll know it's wrong, but the longer we do it, the more callous we become, and that conviction becomes less, and we become even more distant from Christ. Not in His doing, in ours. He stands at the door and knocks. He's ready to come back. All we need to do is repent, confess, and He will come back in and dine with us, sup with us, fellowship with us. We need to pay attention to leaky tires. Secondly, we need to stay humble. We need to stay humble and close to Jesus. Again from James 4 and verse 6, he gives greater grace, therefore it says, God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Be subject, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and cry. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom." That's the call to repentance. When you find yourself in sin, it's okay to be sad. You should be sad. but you don't linger in your sadness. You draw near to God and find restoration. You don't forget your shame, but you can restore your joy. As we read in our scripture reading this morning, when David's bones grew old, he was broken down from his conviction and then he was restored into the joy of his salvation as we too can be when we are humble before God. Number three, stay in the word and in fellowship with a church which is committed to protecting you from yourself. We need to stay reminded of the words of Jesus. That's why we promote reading the Bible every day, going to Bible studies, fellowshipping with others that are in the word of God. Give people an insight into who you really are. Have close relationships where you can have friends that can confront you and love you and challenge you when they see a leak in one of your tires. Fourthly, when you are convicted or ashamed, thank God for His love and grace. And apply 1 John 4, 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then live your life and keep Jesus as the center of your life. No one likes to patch or plug a leaky tire. It's no fun, but it's better than having to buy a new one. They're expensive. Conviction and shame are painful to deal with, but we don't want to avoid them. The problems that cause them could lead to bigger problems. So let God use conviction and shame and make you more like Christ. And you might find yourself very soon being used to build his church in meaningful ways that you could have never imagined. Let's pray. Lord, I'm grateful for the salvation we have in Christ. I'm thankful for the forgiveness that we're granted when we put our trust and belief in him alone. But Lord, in our flesh, there are times when we are broken. There are times when we sin against you. There are times when our, metaphorically, our tires are just leaky. Lord, help us not to fall into the traps of the enemy that wants us to be captured into sinful lifestyles or sinful choices. Help us to be restored through conviction and healthy shame that comes from you, that heals us and binds up our wounds and puts us back in a place of fellowship with you. And Lord, use us. Use the most sinful among us to bring glory to your name. and light to a lost world. Lord, none of us are worthy, but all of us are useful when Christ leads us. And so we thank you. We thank you for Peter and his willingness to be used by you, his willingness to put himself out there, his willingness to fail and be restored. and be used in such a mighty way to build your church. Lord, may we be as intent on allowing you to break us as you broke Peter, and then use us for your glory. And we'll give you the praise in Jesus' name, amen. Lord, I come, I confess Bowing here, I find my rest Without you, I fall apart You're the one that guides my heart I need you, my one defense My righteousness, oh God, how I need you When your sin runs deep, your grace is more Where grace is found is where you are And where you are, Lord, I am free Your holiness is Christ in me Lord I need you, oh I need you In every hour I need you My one defense, my righteousness Oh God how I need you All right, I have a couple of announcements before we leave today. Tonight there will be a Easter choir forming. Please plan to join us at 5 p.m. here at the church. for the first practice of that organization for this year's Easter choir presentation. At 5.30, there'll be elder prayer here, so the elders will gather and pray on behalf of the church. At 5.30 here, 6.30, discipline is a good thing from Hebrews. So come back for that message tonight at 6.30 here at church. I added this one in, it wasn't on the written thing here, but there will be men's Bible study here at 6.30 p.m. on Monday night and 6.30 a.m. Tuesday morning. If you'd like to join, there's still time to come out and get into a men's Bible study. Wednesday at 6.30, we'll have the LBC Kids Club and Bible study and prayer here at church. Next Saturday, adult fellowship. It'll be euchre, pickleball, and card games at 5.30 p.m. here with pizza and dessert provided. Please sign up on the bulletin board. Tuesday, February 27th, there'll be a Ladies for Missions here at 1 p.m., and then coming up in March 2nd and 3rd will be El Delphos Family Weekend. So on March 2nd, there'll be a youth rally at the Pekin Bible Church. March 3rd, there'll be dinner at 5 p.m. with service following, and sign up on the bulletin board. Is that here, that dinner? Yes, here, good. On March 3rd, that dinner's here, the rally's in Pekin, on the day before, though. Unless I can be reminded of anything else, that's what we have. Oh, I will say March 26th and 27th, there'll be a men's conference down in Springfield called Truth for Every Man. We go to that pretty much every year. It's one of our sister churches down at Southern View. I would encourage you men to put that on your calendars. What's that? Did I say March? I'm sorry, it's April, yes. So you got some time. So you have to flip a couple more pages in your calendar. Thanks for catching me on that. So April 26th and 27th, We've had some times when we've had 30, 40 men go down there, and it's a great time. It's a lot of fun. So I'd encourage you guys to write that on your calendars when you've got some time. Thanks. Well, amen. If you're able, stand with us. We're looking to Jude today for the benediction. Jude, verse 24 and 25 says this, Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. And everybody said? Amen. Have a blessed Lord's Day. You are dismissed.